Louis Monza Abstract Figural Oil Painting "In Our Times", 1961

Item Details

Louis Monza (California/New York/Italy, 1897 – 1984)
In Our Times, 1961
Oil painting on canvas
Signed to lower right
Title inscribed to verso
Label to verso from Luise Ross Gallery, New York

Louis Monza was known for his allegorical paintings dealing with social and political themes. He was born in northern Italy in 1897, and after a time spent as an apprentice to a wood carver, he immigrated to the United States in 1913. Though a pacifist he served in the army during WWI, after which he worked as a house painter. An injury ended that occupation in 1937, and marked the beginning of Monza’s art career as a self-taught painter, sculptor and printmaker. Eventually he settled in California, widely exhibited his work, and was the subject of Catherine Fels book The Graphic Work of Louis Monza, published in the 1970s. His work resides in the permanent collections of the Oakland Museum of California and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American Art.

Condition

- light scattered accretion; minor abrasions and wear to frame.

Dimensions

- measures frame.

Item #

ITMG267663